Thread: I know antivax when I see it. I've been fighting antivaccine misinformation for nearly two decades. Your "roundtable" was all antivax. Rep. Noble might not have said anything antivax, but he didn't say anything much pro-vax, either, and his bills pander to antivaxers. 1/@
I realize that you probably didn't read my whole post; so I'll include a link again. I explain why what your panelists were claiming was BS and antivax, although you might have to click the links in the post to see specific antivaccine tropes explained. 2/ respectfulinsolence.com/2018/08/03/jef…
For instance, there was the "toxins" gambit, in which vaccines were portrayed as having all sorts of poisons in them, like formaldehyde. Yes, there are scary-sounding chemicals in vaccines, but they'rre present in amounts too small to cause harm. 3/ respectfulinsolence.com/2009/05/15/jen…
You're a former schoolteacher, aren't you, @KerryB4Congress? You understand that the dose makes the poison, don't you? Antivaxers don't. 4/
Then, of course, there was the "fetal cells" gambit. This is a misinformation-packed trope designed to horrify religious anti-abortion types. The idea is that there are "fetal parts" or "fetal cells" in vaccines. There aren't. 5/ respectfulinsolence.com/2015/07/27/whe…
Yes, it is true that there are two cell lines for certain live attenuated virus vaccines that were derived from aborted fetuses in the 1960s. However, they have been through many, many replications since then. 6/
These cell lines are so distant from their origin that even the Catholic Church—which takes second place to NO other religion when it comes to being antiabortion—concludes that such vaccines are morally acceptable to use.. 7/ immunize.org/talking-about-…
It's not just the Catholic Church, either. Basically every major religion states that vaccines are a moral good because they protect children from deadly diseases. 8/
Overall, vaccines made from these two cell lines derived from fetuses nearly 60 years ago have prevented billions of cases of disease and millions upon millions of deaths. 9/ respectfulinsolence.com/2017/03/07/how…
Then Gretchen Perry-Emory laid down more antivaccine misinformation, claiming that DNA in vaccines from fetal cells is a danger. I almost laughed out loud when she wondered what would happen if DNA from a girl was injected into a boy and vice versa? She is clueless. 10/
This particular bit of antivaccine pseudoscience was thought up by one person, Theresa Deisher, who's been flogging "fetal DNA" getting into the brain and causing "neuroinflammation" to cause autism. That's BS. 11/ respectfulinsolence.com/2014/09/09/rel…
Here's another example of Deisher's horrible "science." 12/ respectfulinsolence.com/2015/08/24/mor…
The other antivaxer flogging the idea of DNA in vaccines takes a different tack. Sin Hang Lee claims that DNA from HPV contaminated Gardasil gets into the brain and causes neuroinflammation and autism. His "science" is just as bad as Deisher's. 13/ respectfulinsolence.com/2015/08/24/mor…
Then there's the idea of "too many, too soon," which came up during the Q&A, although not explicitly called that. It's a favorite trope of antivaxers, who try to claim that vaccines overwhelm the baby's immune system and cause autism. They don't. 14/ respectfulinsolence.com/2013/04/01/the…
Gretchen Perry-Emory also cited "Vaccines and Autoimmunity." That's based on the dubious work of two antivaxers, Yehuda Shoenfeld and Lucija Tomljenovic. Shoenfeld's been pushing a quack "diagnosis" he calls the "ASIA syndrome." It's nonsense too. 15/ respectfulinsolence.com/2013/08/09/ant…
I also note that Lucija Tomljenovic has written some hilariously off-base pseudoscientific literature reviews on vaccines and autism. 16/ respectfulinsolence.com/2011/12/08/and…
Gretchen Perry-Emory repeated the lie that herd immunity doesn't exist, which is akin to saying evolution doesn't happen, anthropogenic climate change isn't real, and the moon landings never happened. Oops, you probably believe 2 out of 3 of those. 17/ respectfulinsolence.com/2011/12/08/and…
Then she trotted out another trope about viral shedding after vaccination. Yes, shedding can happen. No, it's generally not dangerous. respectfulinsolence.com/2015/03/05/cnb… 18/
Now let's come to @Vote_Jeff_Noble's bills. The first bill, which failed last year (and I hope fails again this year) would reverse the progress @MichiganHHS has made since 2015 n increasing vaccine uptake. 19/
It's the 2nd part of @Vote_Jeff_Noble's bill that's truly horrific to anyone with any public health training or knowledge of epidemiology. He wants, in essence, to strip local health authorities of the power to keep unvaccinated kids out of school during an outbreak. Madness! 20/
If you want to make measles great again in Michigan, I can't think of a better way than to make it harder for local health officers and doctors to keep susceptible children away from the infection source. @Vote_Jeff_Noble flunks Public Health 101. 21/ respectfulinsolence.com/2017/04/05/why…
Then there's you. The National Child Vaccine Injury Compensation Program could use some tweaks, but basically neutering the Vaccine Court, as you propose, would make it harder, not easier, for children with REAL vaccine injuries to get compensation. 22/ respectfulinsolence.com/2013/09/12/the…
So let's wrap up. You don't like being called antivaccine? Stop promoting antivaccine misinformation and working with antivaccine groups like @MI4VaxChoice. Their goal isn't "vaccine choice," it's to frighten parents out of vaccinating. 23/
Among antivaxers, "vaccine choice" is a common euphemism for "antivaccine" because antivaxers know that society frowns on them (as well it should). The idea is to promote antivaccine misinformation (like at your roundtable) and use the fear of that to justify not vaccinating. 24/
Basically, the gross exaggeration of the risks of vaccines and denial or downplaying of their benefits produces a false picture. That false picture then distorts the "informed consent" process, turning into "misinformed consent." 25/ respectfulinsolence.com/2010/11/05/how…
That's how antivaxers work. That's how @MI4VaxChoice works: To use the euphemism of "vaccine choice" to hide an agenda of legitimizing in the public mind the grosses lies about vaccines and the dangers antivaxers claim for them. 26/
I don't throw around the term "antivaccine" lightly. I have a very definite sense of what it means. 27/ respectfulinsolence.com/2010/11/01/wha…
Basically three out of four of your guests were clearly very antivaccine. You and @Vote_Jeff_Noble, I haven't decided about yet, but I am absolutely sure that you're both pandering to antivaxers and that Rep. Noble's bill, if passed, would be a disaster for public health. 28/28
